sound familiar, washington? house republicans know that the number of political briefcases has dwindled considerably, and very little chance to win the big payoff and they know that the white house is not in one of those cases. they know that the senate majority is not in one of those cases, but what is likely to be in the case is a further downgrade of american credit. they can hear all of us in the crowd roaring, deal, deal, deal, but they keep holding out for what? and at whose expense? because the problem is this that the congressional representatives are not really the contestants, we are. join ming me today from america university and journalist mark steiner who is host of the mark steiner show on pbs, and founder of the center for emerging media, and also from huffpo live, an msnbc contributor and editor, and thegrio.com, and a woman who gave me a holiday and vacation, joy reid, and nice to have you all here. and thank you so much for coming back, joy. i wanted to start with you this morning, what are the